Parental rights
FILE - In this Oct. 24, 2018, photo, Ammon Bundy poses for a photo in Emmett, Idaho. On Saturday, June 19, 2021, anti-government activist Bundy came out with his first video announcing his campaign to become governor of Idaho. (Kelsey Grey/Idaho Statesman via AP)
Anti-government activist Bundy issues Idaho campaign videos

By The Associated Press Jun. 19, 2021 10:23 PM EDT

FILE - This June 8, 2021 file photo shows the Supreme Court building in Washington. A Thursday, June 17, 2021 Supreme Court ruling that favored Catholic Social Services in Philadelphia was far from the constitutional gale wind that would have reshaped how courts interpret religious liberty under the First Amendment. Governmental entities are now on notice that if they want to ban discrimination against LGBTQ persons or anyone else, they had better not allow for any exceptions – or else religious groups will have the right to ask for them, and they'll have a strong case for getting them. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
Catholic foster care agency wins Supreme Court verdict

By Jessica Gresko Jun. 17, 2021 03:20 PM EDT

Leroy Pascubillo smiles as he looks at his daughter, who was born addicted to heroin and placed with a foster family at birth, and talks about his journey regaining custody, May 10, 2021, in Seattle. Pascubillo, who had used drugs for the better part of four decades, was in a court-ordered in-patient drug rehab program when the pandemic first hit. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)
AP analysis: COVID prolonged foster care stays for thousands

By Sally Ho And Camille Fassett Jun. 08, 2021 07:19 AM EDT

FILE - In this April 22, 2021 file photo, a sleeping area set up inside exhibit hall B of the Long Beach Convention Center in Long Beach, Calif., where migrant children found at the U.S.-Mexico border without a parent will be temporarily housed. The Biden administration is holding tens of thousands of asylum-seeking children in an opaque network of some 200 facilities that The Associated Press has now learned spans two dozen states and includes five shelters with more than 1,000 children packed inside. (Brittany Murray/The Orange County Register via AP, Pool, File)
Migrant children held in mass shelters with little oversight

By Garance Burke, Juliet Linderman And Martha Mendoza May. 11, 2021 07:02 AM EDT

FILE - In this April 22, 2021 file photo, a sleeping area set up inside exhibit hall B of the Long Beach Convention Center in Long Beach, Calif., where migrant children found at the U.S.-Mexico border without a parent will be temporarily housed. The Biden administration is holding tens of thousands of asylum-seeking children in an opaque network of some 200 facilities that The Associated Press has now learned spans two dozen states and includes five shelters with more than 1,000 children packed inside. (Brittany Murray/The Orange County Register via AP, Pool, File)
Migrant children held in mass shelters with little oversight

By Garance Burke, Juliet Linderman And Martha Mendoza May. 11, 2021 07:00 AM EDT

The Connecticut State Senate is voting on legislation to eliminate the religious exemption for required vaccinations for schoolchildren, Tuesday, April 27, 2021, in Hartford, Conn. A group is rallying led by the Health Choice 4 Action Connecticut lobbyist organization. (Mark Mirko/Hartford Courant via AP)
Connecticut Senate votes to eliminate religious exemption

By Susan Haigh Apr. 27, 2021 02:50 PM EDT

FILE - In this Wednesday, March 24, 2021, file photo, young child walks alone through the brush after being smuggled across the Rio Grande river in Roma, Texas. The government failed to prepare for a big increase in children traveling alone as President Joe Biden ended some of his predecessor's hardline immigration policies and decided he wouldn't quickly expel unaccompanied kids from the country like the Trump administration did for eight months. (AP Photo/Dario Lopez-Mills, File)
New migrant facilities crop up to ease crowding, again

By Adriana Gomez Licon And Amy Taxin Apr. 18, 2021 11:55 AM EDT

FILE - In this April 14, 2021, file photo, Liliana Carrillo, right, appears with her representative, Deputy Public Defender Brandon Mata, during her arraignment in Kern County Superior Court in Bakersfield, Calif. The California woman suspected of killing her three children in the midst of a bitter custody battle said Thursday, April 15 that she drowned them to keep them away from their father, a television station reported. In a jailhouse interview, Carrillo told KGET-TV that she wanted to "protect" them from abuse, the station reported. (Alex Horvath/The Bakersfield Californian via AP, File)
California woman says she drowned children to protect them

By Stefanie Dazio Apr. 16, 2021 02:42 AM EDT

Photos, candles, flowers and balloons are placed as a memorial for three children who were killed at the Royal Villa apartments complex in the Reseda section of Los Angeles, on Monday, April 12, 2021. Authorities have identified 3-year-old Joanna Denton Carrillo, her 2-year-old brother, Terry, and 6-month-old sister, Sierra, as the three young children who were killed over the weekend. Their mother is the suspect in their deaths and was being held in a central California jail. (AP Photo/Richard Vogel)
A bitter custody battle and 3 young lives lost in California

By Stefanie Dazio Apr. 13, 2021 08:27 PM EDT

Michigan's top court sides with dad in parental rights case

By Ed White Apr. 05, 2021 02:02 PM EDT
DETROIT (AP) — The Michigan Supreme Court unanimously overturned the decisions of a Kalamazoo-area judge who terminated the parental rights of a poor couple...

Editorial Roundup: Texas

By The Associated Press Mar. 22, 2021 10:00 AM EDT
San Antonio Express-News. March 19, 2021. Editorial: No solutions for border in political posturing As politicians hurl...

Nearly 2,000 try to testify online about religious exemption

By Susan Haigh Feb. 16, 2021 03:58 PM EST
Nearly 2,000 members of the public were signed up to testify at Tuesday's unprecedented 24-hour, virtual legislative hearing on two contentious bills that...

Editorial Roundup: Indiana

By The Associated Press Jan. 12, 2021 10:00 AM EST
Terre Haute Tribune-Star. Jan. 6, 2021. Editorial: Indiana up to the NCAA challenge. No state better equipped to handle college tourneys ...

Editorial Roundup: Indiana

By The Associated Press Dec. 08, 2020 02:00 PM EST
South Bend Tribune. Dec. 6, 2020 Tackling a (leaf) burning issue in St. Joseph County The St. Joseph County Council has...

The Supreme Court is seen on Election Day, Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2020, in Washington. President Donald Trump says he's planning an aggressive legal strategy to try prevent Pennsylvania from counting mailed ballots that are received in the three days after the election, a matter that could find its way to the high court. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
A more conservative court hears same-sex foster parent case

By Jessica Gresko Nov. 04, 2020 02:14 PM EST

Boy accused in fatal fire to remain in foster care

Apr. 23, 2020 06:29 PM EDT
EUREKA, Ill. (AP) — A 9-year-old Illinois boy charged with murder in a mobile home fire that killed five people will remain with foster guardians, and his...

This March 30, 2020, photo provided by Carolina McAuley shows herself at her home in Wycoff, N.J. As the country hunkered down to fend off the coronavirus, Carolina McAuley expected her middle school-age kids would continue to shuffle between her house and her ex-husband's, until she got sick. The coronavirus is wreaking havoc on divorced families' custody arrangements as parents get sick or exposed to the illness. In other cases, it is driving already feuding exes to battle over how seriously the other is heeding stay-at-home orders. (Carolina McAuley via AP)
Split families make pacts, duel over custody amid virus

By Amy Taxin Apr. 07, 2020 10:06 AM EDT

Florida mom seeks custody of son, says father is virus risk

By Mike Schneider Apr. 04, 2020 10:19 AM EDT
ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — A Florida mother is asking a judge to allow her to keep custody of her 2-year-old son during the pandemic, claiming the boy's father and...